Psalms 56:8

Thou tellest my wanderings,.... Not his sins; though these are aberrations or wanderings from the ways of God's commandments; yet these are not told by the Lord: he takes no account of them; the

Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book? Thou tellest my wanderings - i:e., Thou takest note of my movements in 'my flight' from my home and country.

My wanderings: here I have been hunted from place to place, and am now driven hither. Put my tears into thy bottle; regard, and remember, and pity them. Are they not in thy book? but why do I pray to God to do that which I am well assured he is of himself inclined to do, and hath already done?

Psalms 56:8 Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: [are they] not in thy book?Ver. 8. Thou tellest my wanderings] Or, thou cipherest up my flittings, and hast them in numerato, ready told up; my vagaries while hunted up and down like a partridge, and hushed out of every bush, so that I have nowhere to settle. St Paul was at the same pass, αστατουμεν, saith he, we have no certain abode, 1 Corinthians 4:11; and so were sundry of the holy martyrs and confessors, who wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins, &c., driven from post to pillar, from one country to another, God all the while noting and numbering all their flittings, yea, all their footings, bottling up their tears, booking down their sighs, as here, and Malachi 3:16; see Matthew 10:30. The Septuagint, for my wanderings, or flittings, have my life, ζωην, to teach us, saith one, that our life is but a flitting. Put thou my tears into thy bottle] Heb. my tear, that is, every tear of mine; let not one of them be lost, but kept safe with thee, as so much sweet water. It is a witty observation of one, that God is said in Scripture to have a bag and a bottle, a bag for our sins, a bottle for our tears; and that we should help to fill this as we have that. There is an allusion here in the original that cannot be translated into English. Are they not in thy book?] sc. Of providence; where they cannot be blotted out by any time or tyrants.

(8) Wanderings.—Rather, in the singular, wandering, which, from the parallelism with “tears,” must mean “mental restlessness,” the “tossings to and fro of the mind.” Symmachus, “my inmost things.” Put thou my tears into thy bottle.—There is a play of words in the original of “bottle,” and “wandering.” We must not, of course, think of the lachrymatories, as they are called, of glass, which have been found in Syria (see Thomson, Land and Book, page 103). If these were really in any way connected with “tears,” they must have formed part of funeral customs. The LXX., “Thou hast put my tears before thee,” and Symmachus and Jerome, “put my tears in thy sight,” suggest a corruption of the text; but, in any case, the poet’s feeling here is that of Constance in Shakespeare’s King John— “His grandam’s wrongs, and not his mother’s shames, Draw these heaven-moving pearls from his poor eyes, Which heaven shall take in nature of a fee; Ay, with those crystal beads Heaven shall be brib’d To do him justice and revenge on you.” Book.—As in Psalms 139:16. Some prefer “calculation.”

Verse 8. Thou tellest my wanderings] Thou seest how often I am obliged to shift the place of my retreat. I am hunted every where; but thou numberest all my hiding-places, and seest how often I am in danger of losing my life. Put thou my tears into thy bottle] Here is an allusion to a very ancient custom, which we know long obtained among the Greeks and Romans, of putting the tears which were shed for the death of any person into small phials, called lacrymatories or urnae lacrymales and offering them on the tomb of the deceased. Some of these were of glass, some of pottery, and some of agate, sardonyx, c. A small one in my own collection is of hard baked clay. Are they not in thy book?] Thou hast taken an exact account of all the tears I have shed in relation to this business and thou wilt call my enemies to account for every tear.

8. Thou tellest my wanderings] Thou countest the days and adventures of my fugitive life, while I am driven from my home as a wanderer and vagabond (Psalms 36:11, notes); not one of them escapes Thy notice (Job 31:4; Matthew 10:30). Tell, as in Psalms 22:17, Psalms 48:12, means count. put thou my tears] Or, my tears are put. into thy bottle] By a bold figure God is said to collect and treasure his tears, as though they were precious wine. Kay quotes St. Bernard’s saying, “Lacrimae poenitentium vinum angelorum.” The ‘bottle’ is the skin bottle of Oriental countries, holding a considerable quantity (Joshua 9:4; Joshua 9:13; 1 Samuel 16:20; Psalms 119:83). There is no reference to the use of so-called ‘lachrymatories.’ are they not in thy book?] Or, record. For God’s ‘book of remembrance’ see Malachi 3:16. Cp. Exodus 32:32; Psalms 69:28; Psalms 139:16. The abrupt question is characteristic of this Psalm. Cp. Psalms 56:4; Psalms 56:13.

Thou tellest my wanderings - Thou dost “number” or “recount” them; that is, in thy own mind. Thou dost keep an account of them; thou dost notice me as I am driven from one place to another to find safety.

8. Thou tellest my wanderings—The word for “tellest” means the numbering and entering upon a roll, or book.